FLINT, Mich. (WXYZ) — The deck was stacked against Kassius Lofton from the day he was born.
The Flint toddler, known as Kass, was diagnosed with Down syndrome and was developmentally delayed. At almost 3 years old, he could not walk on his own and was non-verbal.
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So when bruises started to appear all over his body, family members feared the worst and Kass couldn’t tell them where they came from.
“I received the pictures of him with the belt buckle marks on one side (of his face), and a long scar down the other side,” recalled his aunt, Brenda Wellons-Watson. “He had two black eyes and bruises all over his back.”
After seeing the photos of Kass’ injuries last July, Wellons-Watson, who lives in Detroit, did not wait to do something. She shared them with Children’s Protective Services.
“He is non-verbal. He cannot even say ouch,” she said through tears. “It did not take a lot of soul searching. All it took was for me to see a 2-year-old with black eyes and bruises all over him.”
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Wellons-Watson contacted CPS on July 20, sending multiple photos that showed bruises and marks on Kass’s body.
Flint Police investigated as well, confirming the toddler’s injuries. As a result of Wellons-Watson’s complaint, CPS would take Kass away from his mom, placing him with his godmother, Patricia Carradine, who lived nearby.
Carradine and other family members say they asked Kass’ mom, Tiarra Wellons, how her son received the injuries, but say they received different answers.
“It was his white blood cells,” Carradine recalled being told. “He had an allergic reaction.”
Emmanuel Wellons, Kass’s grandfather, reported receiving a different answer.
“I kind of got the story that (it was) roughhousing, this that and the other,” he said. “Bump here, two black eyes.”
Carradine said she believed Wellons was not being truthful.
Kass would stay with his godmother for the next month. Then, on a day in August, she said she was contacted by a CPS caseworker and told that Kass needed to be returned to his mother.
“(CPS) sent me a text message,” Carradine said. “It was something about the case, they wanted to close it or dismiss it or whatever...we also need Kass to return home by 2 p.m..”
It is not clear what steps CPS took to determine that it was safe for Kass to return to his mom.
Within minutes of learning he would be returned, Wellons-Watson began calling and texting the same caseworker she’d alerted to Kass’s injuries.
“I was battling with them not to return him,” she said. “I had sent them text messages and photographs. I had gone even so far as to reach out to Lansing to keep him from being returned.”
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Text messages reviewed by 7 News Detroit show that Wellons-Watson raised concerns Kass might be beaten inside the home. But the caseworker responded that she could no longer talk to her about the case.
Undeterred, Wellons-Watson started sending e-mails to anyone she could at the state department overseeing CPS.
“And it came back saying that someone would get back with me within 48 hours,” she recalled. “And by the time she called me back, I told her I didn’t need her help anymore. Because Kassius was dead.”
Two days after CPS ordered that Kass be returned to his mother, Flint Police would be called to the apartment complex where his mother lived.
Kass was found in his bed covered in injuries and not breathing.
His mother and her boyfriend, Deon Johnson, would be charged with his murder. Hours before his death, according to court testimony, a CPS caseworker reported visiting Kass’s home to check on him.
During a court hearing last November, Flint Police officer David Fiebernitz testified that upon entering the home, he observed “bruising to both sides” of Kass’s face and “bruising to the right rib cage."
“I don’t think anyone meant for him to be hurt,” said grandfather Emmanuel Wellons. “Especially my daughter. That’s totally out of character for her.”
Kass suffered multiple fractured ribs and contusions to multiple organs. His death was ruled a homicide by the medical examiner, caused by blunt force injuries of the abdomen.
Both his mother and her boyfriend have pleaded not guilty.
Citing privacy laws, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services said it could not comment on specifics, but said they are “deeply committed to ensuring the health and safety of all children (and) will work with law enforcement to ensure all responsible parties are held accountable.”
The department said it is "heartbroken over the death of Kassius and extends its sympathies to his family and friends during this extraordinarily difficult time."
The criminal cases against both Tiarra Wellons and Deon Johnson were bound over to circuit court last month. Attorneys for both Wellons and Johnson maintain their clients’ innocence and say they look forward to their day in court.
Eight months since she begged CPS not to return her nephew to his mother, Brenda Wellons-Watson says the agency failed at its most basic duty.
“Standing up to believe that I did the right thing is causing me to be uncomfortable with my own family,” she said.
“But (Kass) had no voice. And who will speak for him if I don’t?"
Contact 7 Investigator Ross Jones at ross.jones@wxyz.com or at (248) 827-9466.